


Stay. Stay with me.

by Paraprosdokia (ChangeableConsistency)



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen, I made a SAD, Not A Fix-It, Not Really Character Death, Pheels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-25
Updated: 2012-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-22 09:06:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/608138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangeableConsistency/pseuds/Paraprosdokia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fill for the Prompt: </p>
<p>
  <b>Gen or Any/Any, Someone saying “Stay, Stay with me.”</b>
</p>
<p>Firstly Movies and wiki only source for info on Avengers/Marvel verse so good and bad started to re-watch them not giving an opinion on Daredevil film will say love this line.<br/>Prompt is for an Avenger/Loved one/Friend etc. saying it in any context</p>
<p>From Tony asking the Avengers too move into the tower to Clint when he recruited Natasha to SHIELD</p>
<p>Romance/Angst/Humour/Family/Drama/Fantasy etc.</p>
<p>Main/Finishing/Start Point, One-Shot, Five times said one time wasn’t</p>
<p>Whatever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay. Stay with me.

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Check out the other fills!](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/14813) by Multiple. 



> Still copying my Avengerkink fills over here. Some of them may also still need to be linked to the fills post. Wheeeee.

"Stay, stay with me."

Phil is silent for several beats.

He understands why Nick did it in the first place; hell, he even approves.

But it's been over a year.

He'd be grateful for the coma if he hadn't lost so much of his life; of himself. He doesn't remember the near endless surgeries, he hasn't had to deal with a hovering and frightened Fury (his two least favorite flavors); but it had cost him so much, more than Nick knows.

There isn't just his body to rebuild, everyone at SHIELD, the Avengers, his- he cuts off that thought abruptly. Everyone who knew him has moved on, they lived new lives while he struggled to hang on to his.

And now Nick wants him to come back to SHIELD, to complete his physical therapy on the helicarrier where Nick can keep an eye on him and groom him to take over the Directorship.

He knows the way Fury's mind works, he's kept Phil's survival as an ace up his sleeve, waiting for the right moment to play him.

And he's tired of being played.

"No, Director. I'm out."

"If not me, not SHIELD, then the Av-"

No!

"No," he manages calmly. He wishes for a moment they hadn't managed to keep it secret from everyone, but it had been too new, too fragile, to share. And apparently the old saw of two keeping a secret if one is dead played out truer than Phil thought possible.

It was just too much, too painful. Loki had literally and figuratively cost him his heart; and if he goes back to the 'carrier, goes back to SHIELD, he'll have to see _them_ together, and while he's got a new heart, it's haunted by the ghost of his old one.

There are sacrifices he would make for SHIELD, for Nick, he's proven that.

And he's done.

He's given everything, and if he had to go back and do it all over again he would; but that doesn't mean he'll do it a second time.

"Phil, they need you. I need you."

The file had been extensive. Too extensive. If it hadn't been so detailed, Phil wouldn't have even given it a second thought; but he can see the web Nick's woven through everything, and Phil doesn't _have_ to be a part of it. 

He may be Nick's favorite option, but he isn't the only one.

Phil's arm trembles as he hands back the thick folder; knowing that the steel resolve in his eyes will make it appear to be nothing more than muscle deterioration, and not the loss of something much, much, more precious.

"Phillip Coulson is dead."


End file.
